UAE-Based Popcorn AI Secures US$500,000 in Pre-Seed Funding

Popcorn AI, a UAE-based conversational commerce startup, has bagged US$500,000 in a pre-seed funding round. The investment round was backed by Spring Studios, Salica Investments, Al Waha Fund of Funds, and several strategic angel investors from across Saudi Arabia.  

Popcorn AI is designed to handle the customer journey, from product discovery to payment processing, using a single conversational interface that interacts with customers, understands their needs, and recommends suitable products. It handles the sales process by managing product recommendations, upselling, and completing transactions within a single conversation. 

The startup will use the funding to support the development of tools powered by artificial intelligence (AI) that help businesses manage customer interactions through natural conversations. The funding will also help the startup improve its AI capabilities and expand its team of specialists in AI and commerce. 

Popcorn AI was founded in 2023 by Yousef Al Arif, who brings over 10 years of experience building and scaling tech startups, including five years specializing in e-commerce marketplaces. He has led teams across operations, technology, and marketing, managing more than $50 million in sales, and collaborating with over 600 brands across the region. 

One of Popcorn AI’s recent successes is when an AI agent independently managed a $400,000 real estate transaction, handling everything from the initial inquiry to the final sale. With support for over 80 languages, Popcorn AI facilitates smooth transitions between AI and human agents when needed, and integrates with tools like WhatsApp, Shopify, Zapier, Zid, Airtable, and Meta. Businesses can also customize integrations using its application programming interface (API).

In an interview with Inc. Arabia, founder and CEO Yousef Al Arif shared Popcorn AI's objectives following the funding round. “Our immediate milestones include enhancing our AI agent capabilities to handle increasingly complex commerce scenarios and expanding our integration ecosystem," he said. “We're focusing on three key areas: scaling our infrastructure, deepening our AI agents' understanding of regional commerce nuances, and expanding our payment gateway integrations to facilitate seamless transactions."

On what makes Popcorn AI stand out as an enterprise, Al Arif pointed to the platform’s ability to manage the customer journey comprehensively. 

“Popcorn AI stands out through our AI agents that manage the entire customer journey from product discovery to purchase," he explained. "Our agents can be fully trained in just 15 minutes and handle everything from customer inquiries to payment collection – effectively serving as digital employees who never sleep. Businesses can now receive and process orders through voice notes from their customers, making commerce more accessible.” 

Looking ahead, Al Arif discussed how conversational commerce is evolving and the role Popcorn AI aims to play in it. Additionally, Popcorn AI supports communication in the Saudi Najdi accent, making interactions culturally relevant and more relatable for users in the region. 

“We're witnessing messaging apps evolve into the new browsers of commerce," he pointed out. "Beyond current capabilities, we envision a future where business AI agents will interact not just with human customers, but with other AI personal assistants – creating an AI-to-AI commerce layer that will revolutionize how business is conducted." 

“At Popcorn AI, we’re building the fundamental infrastructure and technology layer that will unlock this future of autonomous commerce interactions,” Al Arif concluded.